[ Disinformazione strategica:
Il corrispondente di "USA Today" Jack Kelley ha presentato le
dimissioni al suo quotidiano pochi giorni fa, dopo che molte delle sue
menzogne sono state smascherate.
La goccia che ha fatto traboccare il vaso e' stata una intervista alla
"attivista per il diritti umani" Natasa Kandic, nota belgradese
sorosiana e filoamericana, che secondo un articolo di Kelley disponeva
di "un block notes con tre anelli dell'esercito jugoslavo, contenente
l'ordine diretto ad un luogotenente di 'ripulire etnicamente' il
villaggio di Cusk, in Kosovo"... ]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6672-2004Jan10.html
Fear and Lying at USA Today
Writer Says Panic Led to Deception, Then Resignation
By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, January 11, 2004; Page A01
When USA Today correspondent Jack Kelley resigned Tuesday after an
investigation of his work, many colleagues wondered why he had quit if,
as he adamantly maintained, his reports from around the world had been
accurate.
The reason, Kelley now acknowledges, is that he "panicked and used poor
judgment" during the probe.
In an effort to prove that he had spoken with a human rights activist
in Yugoslavia, Kelley said in an interview, he encouraged a translator
who was not present during the 1999 sit-down to impersonate another
translator who was there. The woman who agreed to help Kelley called
the USA Today journalist assigned to investigate the matter last fall
and verified Kelley's account as if she had been there.
About two weeks later, Kelley said, he realized the magnitude of his
error and confessed to the paper's publisher, executive editor and
reporter Mark Memmott, who had received the bogus call.
"I resigned because I felt I should no longer work at USA Today because
of what I'd done," Kelley said. But he said he stands behind every
story he has written, many of them from war zones, during a 21-year
career at the nation's best-selling newspaper. He said his bad judgment
stemmed from his conviction that the investigation was "a witch hunt to
drive me out of USA Today."
Editor Karen Jurgensen said yesterday: "I'm confident Jack was treated
fairly and professionally throughout the investigation. We have no
concerns whatsoever about the quality or fairness of the investigation."
The departure of Kelley, 43, a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2002, caused
considerable bitterness in the Gannett paper's Tysons Corner newsroom,
where many staffers were angry at the way the matter was handled by
Jurgensen, Executive Editor Brian Gallagher and Managing Editor for
News Hal Ritter.
Some staff members staunchly defended Kelley as a risk-taking foreign
correspondent who they believe has been badly treated, while others
said management looked the other way for too long while questions
mounted about his exclusives that others seemed unable to match.
The surge of anger is reminiscent of the emotions unleashed at the New
York Times after the Jayson Blair fabrication scandal last spring, when
a staff revolt led to the resignations of the paper's top editors,
Howell Raines and Gerald Boyd. Times staffers questioned why the
editors had missed a series of warning signs about Blair's problems,
which mushroomed into an assault on their autocratic style.
The Kelley controversy comes at a time of growing public mistrust of
the mainstream media. In the past year, critics have questioned: Fox's
Geraldo Rivera and NBC's Peter Arnett over their reporting on the Iraq
war; The Washington Post for reporting that Jessica Lynch had been shot
and stabbed and not correcting the account for 21/2 months; CNN
executive Eason Jordan for saying he suppressed stories of Iraqi
brutality out of concern for people's safety; Salt Lake Tribune Editor
James Shelledy, who resigned after two reporters sold information on
the Elizabeth Smart case to the National Enquirer; and CBS's use of a
music special to leverage a Michael Jackson interview.
In nearly 20 interviews, USA Today staff members described a "culture
of fear," as several put it, in which many employees are afraid to
speak out and there is widespread talk of personal vendettas by
editors. Kelley and other staffers say they believe he was investigated
so aggressively, based on an anonymous letter, because he had given a
negative evaluation of Managing Editor Ritter during a personnel
review. Jurgensen said such comments played no role and are kept
confidential.
As The Washington Post reported Wednesday, Kelley resigned after
editors presented him with the findings of a seven-month investigation
into whether he had fabricated stories filed from Israel, the West
Bank, Cuba and the Balkans. Jurgensen said the paper has no plans to
run a correction for any of Kelley's stories, but has declined to
discuss the investigation because it involves "a personnel matter."
In Kelley's view, the paper has confirmed at least two of the disputed
stories, such as his presence outside a Jerusalem pizza restaurant when
it was blown up by a terrorist in 2001.
But the story that ultimately led to his downfall was based on an
interview in Belgrade with human rights activist Natasa Kandic. In a
front-page 1999 report, Kelley wrote that Kandic, whom he quoted but
did not identify, had obtained "a Yugoslav army three-ring notebook"
that "contains a direct order to a lieutenant to 'cleanse' the village
of Cusk" in Kosovo.
According to Kelley, two female translators hired by USA Today were
there when he interviewed Kandic in Belgrade. One of the translators,
according to Kelley, later told reporter Memmott in Belgrade that she
recalled the interview but could not vouch for the story's details.
Kelley said he tried to reach the second translator in Texas but she
left him a voice-mail saying she was just trying to earn money and did
not want to get involved. At that point, Kelley recalled, Executive
Editor Gallagher sternly told him: "You must produce her quickly."
Kelley said he tracked down a third Yugoslav translator in Texas, with
whom he had worked before, for assistance in finding the reluctant
woman. The third translator said he would never find the woman and
offered to impersonate her in a phone call to Memmott, according to
Kelley, who said he went along with the plan.
"I knew it was wrong," said Kelley, who lost 25 pounds during the
investigation and said he was under great stress. He said he apologized
not only to the paper's executives but to his wife, Jacki, USA Today's
senior vice president for advertising, and to his pastor.
Was the diary story true? In October, Kelley said, Kandic told him and
Gallagher in Washington that she did not remember meeting Kelley
before, but explained apologetically that she had had many interviews
with journalists.
The two men came away with different interpretations, according to
Kelley. He said Kandic confirmed the existence of the notebook cited in
the story, while Gallagher concluded she had not.
But Kelley said that in November Gallagher accepted that he had done
the interview, based on accounts from a former U.N. mission chief in
Yugoslavia and yet another translator who had helped Kelley conduct a
follow-up interview with Kandic.
Several USA Today staffers questioned the conduct of the inquiry, and
Kelley said a Gannett executive told him that private investigators had
been hired. "People who could have validated my stories -- from editors
to colleagues who had been with me on overseas assignments -- were
never asked for feedback which could help answer USA Today's
questions," Kelley said.
Kelley's career is filled with high drama. A University of Maryland
graduate who began as a lowly news assistant before the paper's 1982
launch, he was there when founding Editor John Curley collapsed in the
newsroom. Kelley ripped open Curley's shirt, cradled his head and was
about to administer mouth-to-mouth resuscitation when Curley came to,
the victim merely of a fainting spell. Kelley took the opportunity to
introduce himself.
He went on to report from 96 countries in lone-cowboy style, drawing
death threats in Russia, confronting starvation in Somalia,
interviewing refugees in the Balkans and, by his account, accompanying
Israeli settlers as they opened fire on a Palestinian taxi and wading
into the water with Cubans trying to escape to Florida. Some of these
stories stirred doubts among detractors in the newsroom.
Asked whether USA Today should have examined his work earlier,
Jurgensen said: "Like any newspaper, we get questions about our
stories, and whenever we do, we look into them carefully."
Kelley loves USA Today but is seething about the way he was treated. He
is an evangelical Christian who told Christian Reader magazine three
years ago that he is in journalism "because God has called me to
proclaim truth." But he now concedes that he participated in a lie
while trying to vindicate the accuracy of his reporting.
USA Today editors considered Kelley so valuable that they used him as
an emergency globe-trotter, plugging holes left by the paper's handful
of foreign bureaus, and drafted him for up to three dozen promotional
speeches a year. But now the editors will discuss him only in carefully
parsed statements. Some staffers say that top editors ignored "lots of
red flags over many years," as one put it, and that Kelley was
protected by a management that later turned on him.
For now, Kelley is talking about writing books. "I'm really looking
forward to the next chapter of my life," he said.
Il corrispondente di "USA Today" Jack Kelley ha presentato le
dimissioni al suo quotidiano pochi giorni fa, dopo che molte delle sue
menzogne sono state smascherate.
La goccia che ha fatto traboccare il vaso e' stata una intervista alla
"attivista per il diritti umani" Natasa Kandic, nota belgradese
sorosiana e filoamericana, che secondo un articolo di Kelley disponeva
di "un block notes con tre anelli dell'esercito jugoslavo, contenente
l'ordine diretto ad un luogotenente di 'ripulire etnicamente' il
villaggio di Cusk, in Kosovo"... ]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6672-2004Jan10.html
Fear and Lying at USA Today
Writer Says Panic Led to Deception, Then Resignation
By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, January 11, 2004; Page A01
When USA Today correspondent Jack Kelley resigned Tuesday after an
investigation of his work, many colleagues wondered why he had quit if,
as he adamantly maintained, his reports from around the world had been
accurate.
The reason, Kelley now acknowledges, is that he "panicked and used poor
judgment" during the probe.
In an effort to prove that he had spoken with a human rights activist
in Yugoslavia, Kelley said in an interview, he encouraged a translator
who was not present during the 1999 sit-down to impersonate another
translator who was there. The woman who agreed to help Kelley called
the USA Today journalist assigned to investigate the matter last fall
and verified Kelley's account as if she had been there.
About two weeks later, Kelley said, he realized the magnitude of his
error and confessed to the paper's publisher, executive editor and
reporter Mark Memmott, who had received the bogus call.
"I resigned because I felt I should no longer work at USA Today because
of what I'd done," Kelley said. But he said he stands behind every
story he has written, many of them from war zones, during a 21-year
career at the nation's best-selling newspaper. He said his bad judgment
stemmed from his conviction that the investigation was "a witch hunt to
drive me out of USA Today."
Editor Karen Jurgensen said yesterday: "I'm confident Jack was treated
fairly and professionally throughout the investigation. We have no
concerns whatsoever about the quality or fairness of the investigation."
The departure of Kelley, 43, a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2002, caused
considerable bitterness in the Gannett paper's Tysons Corner newsroom,
where many staffers were angry at the way the matter was handled by
Jurgensen, Executive Editor Brian Gallagher and Managing Editor for
News Hal Ritter.
Some staff members staunchly defended Kelley as a risk-taking foreign
correspondent who they believe has been badly treated, while others
said management looked the other way for too long while questions
mounted about his exclusives that others seemed unable to match.
The surge of anger is reminiscent of the emotions unleashed at the New
York Times after the Jayson Blair fabrication scandal last spring, when
a staff revolt led to the resignations of the paper's top editors,
Howell Raines and Gerald Boyd. Times staffers questioned why the
editors had missed a series of warning signs about Blair's problems,
which mushroomed into an assault on their autocratic style.
The Kelley controversy comes at a time of growing public mistrust of
the mainstream media. In the past year, critics have questioned: Fox's
Geraldo Rivera and NBC's Peter Arnett over their reporting on the Iraq
war; The Washington Post for reporting that Jessica Lynch had been shot
and stabbed and not correcting the account for 21/2 months; CNN
executive Eason Jordan for saying he suppressed stories of Iraqi
brutality out of concern for people's safety; Salt Lake Tribune Editor
James Shelledy, who resigned after two reporters sold information on
the Elizabeth Smart case to the National Enquirer; and CBS's use of a
music special to leverage a Michael Jackson interview.
In nearly 20 interviews, USA Today staff members described a "culture
of fear," as several put it, in which many employees are afraid to
speak out and there is widespread talk of personal vendettas by
editors. Kelley and other staffers say they believe he was investigated
so aggressively, based on an anonymous letter, because he had given a
negative evaluation of Managing Editor Ritter during a personnel
review. Jurgensen said such comments played no role and are kept
confidential.
As The Washington Post reported Wednesday, Kelley resigned after
editors presented him with the findings of a seven-month investigation
into whether he had fabricated stories filed from Israel, the West
Bank, Cuba and the Balkans. Jurgensen said the paper has no plans to
run a correction for any of Kelley's stories, but has declined to
discuss the investigation because it involves "a personnel matter."
In Kelley's view, the paper has confirmed at least two of the disputed
stories, such as his presence outside a Jerusalem pizza restaurant when
it was blown up by a terrorist in 2001.
But the story that ultimately led to his downfall was based on an
interview in Belgrade with human rights activist Natasa Kandic. In a
front-page 1999 report, Kelley wrote that Kandic, whom he quoted but
did not identify, had obtained "a Yugoslav army three-ring notebook"
that "contains a direct order to a lieutenant to 'cleanse' the village
of Cusk" in Kosovo.
According to Kelley, two female translators hired by USA Today were
there when he interviewed Kandic in Belgrade. One of the translators,
according to Kelley, later told reporter Memmott in Belgrade that she
recalled the interview but could not vouch for the story's details.
Kelley said he tried to reach the second translator in Texas but she
left him a voice-mail saying she was just trying to earn money and did
not want to get involved. At that point, Kelley recalled, Executive
Editor Gallagher sternly told him: "You must produce her quickly."
Kelley said he tracked down a third Yugoslav translator in Texas, with
whom he had worked before, for assistance in finding the reluctant
woman. The third translator said he would never find the woman and
offered to impersonate her in a phone call to Memmott, according to
Kelley, who said he went along with the plan.
"I knew it was wrong," said Kelley, who lost 25 pounds during the
investigation and said he was under great stress. He said he apologized
not only to the paper's executives but to his wife, Jacki, USA Today's
senior vice president for advertising, and to his pastor.
Was the diary story true? In October, Kelley said, Kandic told him and
Gallagher in Washington that she did not remember meeting Kelley
before, but explained apologetically that she had had many interviews
with journalists.
The two men came away with different interpretations, according to
Kelley. He said Kandic confirmed the existence of the notebook cited in
the story, while Gallagher concluded she had not.
But Kelley said that in November Gallagher accepted that he had done
the interview, based on accounts from a former U.N. mission chief in
Yugoslavia and yet another translator who had helped Kelley conduct a
follow-up interview with Kandic.
Several USA Today staffers questioned the conduct of the inquiry, and
Kelley said a Gannett executive told him that private investigators had
been hired. "People who could have validated my stories -- from editors
to colleagues who had been with me on overseas assignments -- were
never asked for feedback which could help answer USA Today's
questions," Kelley said.
Kelley's career is filled with high drama. A University of Maryland
graduate who began as a lowly news assistant before the paper's 1982
launch, he was there when founding Editor John Curley collapsed in the
newsroom. Kelley ripped open Curley's shirt, cradled his head and was
about to administer mouth-to-mouth resuscitation when Curley came to,
the victim merely of a fainting spell. Kelley took the opportunity to
introduce himself.
He went on to report from 96 countries in lone-cowboy style, drawing
death threats in Russia, confronting starvation in Somalia,
interviewing refugees in the Balkans and, by his account, accompanying
Israeli settlers as they opened fire on a Palestinian taxi and wading
into the water with Cubans trying to escape to Florida. Some of these
stories stirred doubts among detractors in the newsroom.
Asked whether USA Today should have examined his work earlier,
Jurgensen said: "Like any newspaper, we get questions about our
stories, and whenever we do, we look into them carefully."
Kelley loves USA Today but is seething about the way he was treated. He
is an evangelical Christian who told Christian Reader magazine three
years ago that he is in journalism "because God has called me to
proclaim truth." But he now concedes that he participated in a lie
while trying to vindicate the accuracy of his reporting.
USA Today editors considered Kelley so valuable that they used him as
an emergency globe-trotter, plugging holes left by the paper's handful
of foreign bureaus, and drafted him for up to three dozen promotional
speeches a year. But now the editors will discuss him only in carefully
parsed statements. Some staffers say that top editors ignored "lots of
red flags over many years," as one put it, and that Kelley was
protected by a management that later turned on him.
For now, Kelley is talking about writing books. "I'm really looking
forward to the next chapter of my life," he said.